The Acanac Online PC Experience - Really?!?!?!?

First, let’s take a look at the company!

From their Website:

“Acanac is the sister company of Canaca.com Inc one of Canada’s Largest
webhosting companies. Acanac takes the same principles brought to you by
Canaca, great service at a great value.  Acanac provides cost effective Residential
and Business phone service at an affordable price. We also offer High speed DSL
and dial up access as well.We are truly a global communications company
connecting the world for less.

Acanac’s core value is to make sure that you the customer is served with the
utmost respect and professionalism. This is the reason that we are one of
the few companies that offer a unconditional money back guarantee.

We recognize that down time is not an option for your internet access and
that you deserve crystal clear Phone Service at all times. That’s why we
have invested heavily in hardware, and facilities this ensures that you, the
client is up and running on 24 hours a day seven days a week.”
My Experience Loathing with for Acanac

The Search for a VPS Begins - July 14th, 2008

Looking for a cost-effective way of hosting multiple websites I came across a company called Acanac. They are offering a Online PC (Virtual Private Server) with the following specs:

Price - $23.95/month (12-month)
Speed - 10mbps up/10mbps down
Static IP - 1
Bandwidth - 500GB
HDD Space - 100GB
RAM - 750Mb
Root Access - Yes
OS - Centos 5

Software Included with CentOS
(Standard with any lin box)

Firefox
KTorrent
Open Office
http streaming
ftp access
File Encryption
Gftp client
Games
IM

The Sign-Up - July 16th, 2008

After researching countless VPS providers, I thought I should keep my business with a Canadian company. Hey if we don’t support our companies than who will, right?

I took the plunge at approx. 1:20pm and signed up for their Online PC service. Not knowing whether or not this was a viable solution I chose the 1-month term, therefore bypassing any savings. Which equated to $12/month of additional charges on top of $23.95.

They use a standard form (”secure”) to gather your personal information. IMO, doesn’t seem like reputable company approach. Being in the IT business myself, this is where I became skeptical…

But I still submitted the form, including my CC info. I signed into my Gmail account 10 minutes later and was expecting to see a receipt or some sort of response, but to my surprise nothing ever came.

July 17th, 2008

On the 17th I received the following reply to my submission:

“Online PC

Dear John Doe
Thank you for placing an order for the Online PC with Acanac-Inc.We regret to inform you that we are waiting for the fix with the Raid array. It will be setup within the next 2 days.

If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate and contact us. Thank you so much for your patience in this matter.
Thank you,
Acanac Sales”

You know that sunken feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when you suspect the worse? That’s the feeling that ensued for me. But being a reasonable individual I replied “No problem, thanks for the heads up”

July 19th, 2008

In my mind, I believed that this was more than enough time to get a RAID array fixed. Especially since I’ve seen the guys at work replace cards on the fly, configure the server and have it up and running in less than 1-day.

So, I emailed them a simple question (5:53pm): “Have the issues with your RAID Array been fixed? I am anxious to try out your VPS.”

…no reply that day

July 20th, 2008

No Reply

July 21st, 2008

Here’s something you pest (2:15pm):

“Hello,

Thank you for choosing Acanac Inc. The issues with the Raid Array have been fixed. You should be able to use that service soon. If you used a credit card to place your order then you will be billed monthly for the service. If you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,
Acanac Sales ”

I was more than happy to take this response. However, I should have taken it with a grain of salt…

July 22nd, 2008

Now, I was becoming quite frustrated with what was happening. I never received my final confirmation Email with the login information or a note saying that they needed more time.

Instead, I initiated contact once more (8:19am): “Is there any chance that I will be obtaining my access information for your Online PC today?

Thanks”

Wow! I got a response the same day (2:07pm): “Hi,

I’ll ask our manager to process your order as soon as possible.

Best Regards,
Acanac Inc. ”

Again, being a (at this point a semi) reasonable person I accepted their response.

July 23rd, 2008

I decided at this point that I should call to follow up with Acanac. However, this did not go according to plans…I was left hanging on the telephone (using skype) for 15-minutes before I hung up.

No answer & no response…

July 24th, 2008

The last time I contacted Acanac “Hi, I am still waiting for my login info for your online PC. Could you please let me know what is going on?”

Still nothing…

July 25th, 2008

Again nothing…

July 26th, 2008

Nothing.

July 27th, 2008

Nothing.

July 28th, 2008

Nothing.

July 29th, 2008

Nothing.

July 30th, 2008

Nothing.

July 31st, 2008

Nothing.

August 1st, 2008

Nothing.

August 2nd, 2008

Nothing.

August 3rd, 2008

Nothing.

August 4th, 2008

Nothing.

August 5th, 2008

Nothing.

July 22nd, 2008 @ 2:07pm was the last time I heard from anyone at Acanac…

Final Thoughts

While I understand that there are technical issues that plague the computer world, I also know that this shows a serious flaw in their support chain and in the reliability of their service.

All that I (and I’m sure other customers) require is a simple follow up with an ambiguous response. This was never received and it probably never will be.

While I’ve heard that Acanac can be a cheap, affordable and sub-par approach to a DSL ISP (using Bell Sympatico), I will never recommend, encourage or give them a second chance.

You shouldn’t either! There is obviously something wrong with the way they conduct business. Save yourself a headache and stay away from Acanac or their sister company Canaca.

Acanac, get it together for your customers and potential customers! If you promise a service, deliver it and stand by your 30-day money back guarantee! Again, stay far away from Acanac or Canaca.

…And I’m not the only one:

 The Horrors of Acanac

They refused to provide bills. They took money out of my account WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION. Dealing with this company has been an absolute nightmare. Don’t go there! Deal with a reputable company. Check the BBB site first.

This one is funny in a twisted sort of way

1st call -

Tech: “Acanac support.”
Me: “Hi, I’m having difficulty with one of your trial accounts; I wonder if you could look at it?”
Tech: *distinctive hang-up click*

Five minutes later, 2nd call -

Same tech: “Acanac support.”
Me: (pause) “You gonna hang right up…?”
Tech: (snarkily) “Sometime today I’ll hang up; at the end of the day.”
Me: “May I get a question out first?”
Tech: “If you can ask it in 3 seconds.”

That’s a quote.

- At this point I explain my problem. Maybe he has some basic advice, or maybe he can take that 3 seconds to ask his boss (a fellow named Trevor). He says neither of them knows anything about it, so he can’t help me. He won’t even look into my individual account to see if Acanac servers are being hammered by my very persistent modem. He advises me to send them an email. See above for how productive my online discussions with this company have been.

I ask again, very politely, if he could take a look at the account.

Tech: “No. And I don’t want to deal with this issue anymore.” *loud click*

That’s a quote.

STAY AWAY from Acanac

After subscribing to Acanac DSL internet in Ottawa for a year, I can say that it’s better to pay to Rogers than to have any deal with Acanac. Not only the service was patchy, but when I decided not to renew the service for another year they automatically charged me $400 and then refused to return $100.

According to their billing department I have no choice even though they have a 30-day full refund guarantee and my first-year contract is to expire in a week. My conclusion is NEVER-EVER use ACANAC if you have a choice. After you subscribe to their sub-standard service trying to save a few bucks they will scam you for all the supposed savings you get with them.

If you have an enemy, recommend Acanac!

http://www.dslreports.com/comment/2744/68071

Acanac is TERRIBLE!!!!

---

I have had the misfortune of signing up for a year with acanac.net. I have had sporatic DSL service and they will not solve the problem..or can’t. Each time I call service, they really don’t know much and if they are stumped, they hang up. I’ve spent many months trying to get a stable connection, and each time I call I get a different excuse. I’ve asked for my money back and get laughed at. Is this anyway to do business?
STAY AWAY FROM ACANAC.NET…IT’S A SCAM!!!:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=73300

Acanac Lacks Knack for Customer Service

Having worked customer service I realize how some customers can be real assholes. They can be completely blind to their own behavior and how they treat company staff and their expectations can be very unreasonable.

So when people complain about a company, I tend to take it with a grain of salt until I can corroborate any claims. However, I think Acanac’s own performance in this review comment thread is particularly revealing.

http://www.frikafrax.com/mnuke/blog2/2008/05/03/acanac-perception-is-everything/

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/index.php/t-360747.html

DO NOT GO WITH ACANAC. Screw those bastards. My internet was more down than up. For a month I tried to reach someone to cancel the acount. Everyday I was put on hold. After 40 mins on hold it said to leave a message and someone will call back. No one ever called back. I found their office, went in there and raised hell. I got my acount cancelled but I was escorted out by police… WORST company to deal with.

Acanac : Fraud alert

I had a very bad experience with this company and I want to prevent you from having same experience. They claim that they provide you a high speed internet access but when you buy the product you will find that they can provide a very slow internet connection. The funny thing is that they charge you for a full year and when you want to cancel your account they hardly refund you. It’s a waste of time and nerve to deal with them. I just wanted to share my bad experience with you.
name of company: Acanac

“Avoid like the plague”

Acanac did make good on their full refund. They dicked around for a while, but after a bit of complaining and persistence on my part, they paid it back within a week of receiving my cancellation request. That’s pretty much the only good thing I can say about my brief experience with Acanac. I hope they do manage to get their service and support together. The risk of prepaying for a year to a company which treats you like crap even when you’re within their ‘money back guarantee’ period is how you will be treated after that period is over. That risk, at least in my opinion, was too great. Buyer beware.

Acanac $18.95/month DSL deal + review

On the 8th day, I plugged in everything and it worked fine … or so I thought. I was consistently getting 500KBps d/l on Bell but have dropped to ~300KBps since joining Acanac. More worryingly, my connection today seems capped at ~100KBps.

The best for last! 

http://text.dslreports.com/forum/cover,2744

[Update July 28th, 2008]

Web Hosting Jury (www.webhostingjury.com) has a nice review page for Acanac’s sister company Canaca: The full list is here

“I gave this company a chance, but for way too long. I’ve had the following problems:

- The connection was always slow. My web site was only a small portfolio site, yet, it took a long time to connect before loading.

- My email failed countless time. I would send them an email and complain, then it would be fixed. I repeated this cycle 7 times. I eventually gave up on the email and used the provided one through my ISP.

- I’m one who likes phone support, even if I have to wait a bit in line. Canaca only allows it for emergency. If it’s not, and you call anyway, they threaten to suspend the account. Who does that?

- I’ve asked several questions via email, and only 1 question will get answered. They seem to get easily confused if you ask more than one question within one email. It baffles me.

- FTP was annoying to use. It kicked me off all the time. I’ve been through different computers, different ISPs, different location, and same issue. I know it’s not just me.

- Their database management was locked off. I couldn’t even upload my own. I sent them an .sql file, and told me it failed. Recently I switched to Host Gator and was able to import my file, same one, without error. ”

For good measure, I thought that you’d like to see their other site: http://www.acanac.org/

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